The Los Angeles Kings Shift Business Strategy From Ticket Sales To Fan Engagement

Alicia Jessop
, ContributorI write about dollars and cents in the world of sports.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

In 2012, the Los Angeles Kings did the improbable: Coming into the Stanley Cup Playoffs as an 8th seed, the team went six games against the New Jersey Devils to win its first Stanley Cup. In the wake of the team's first Stanley Cup victory, Los Angeles Kings executives found themselves in a new corner. The Kings, who were used to playing second fiddle to other Los Angeles sports franchises, suddenly became a hot ticket in town. As the Kings' ticket sales continue to soar amongst the team's continued success, internally, the organization is looking for new ways to cultivate fans. For the team, that means utilizing technology to create fan engagement initiatives.

One reason why the Kings have transitioned into focusing more heavily upon strengthening fan engagement is that the team has quickly reached its season ticket sales goals. Coming into the 2011-12 season--and before the Kings ever won a Stanley Cup--the team sold a total of 9,421 premium and non-premium season tickets. The Kings saw a significant spike in season ticket sales following the team's 2012 Stanley Cup victory, when in 2012-13, non-premium season ticket sales rose by 23-percent to 12,230. This season, the team sold 12,307 season tickets and has sold 13,082 for the 2014-15 season. "Our fans in Los Angeles have really taken to the team and demand for tickets is crazy," said Aaron LeValley, the AEG Sports' senior director of digital strategy and analytics.

With the Kings' home being the Staples Center--which is owned and operated by AEG--the team's ticketing strategy differs a bit from other teams. This is due to the fact that the team is only responsible for selling non-premium season tickets. AEG sells premium season tickets, which include the Staples Center's suites and premium seats. Yet, since winning the Stanley Cup in 2012, the team has been focused upon increasing the base of non-premium season tickets it sells. This season, the team sold a base of 10,000 non-premium season tickets. It is increasing that number to 10,800 for the 2014-15 season. LeValley notes that the team is "very close" to selling out that number, as around the end of May, 10,600 non-premium season tickets had been sold.

Outside of utilizing the team's recent success on the ice the Kings have turned to digital strategies provided by Adobe to help drive ticket sales. In 2010, the Kings began working with Adobe in an attempt to gain a better understanding of their customers, including their customers' interests and purchasing practices. Using Adobe Campaign, the Kings send fans email communications which include links to various areas on the team's website through which the team can harvest data about a fan's preferences. For instance, if a fan clicks on a link with information about a player, the Kings learn that the fan may be more interested in player-based communications. If a fan engages in a contest or giveaway, the team knows to target fans for future promotions. "With the information we are able to receive through Adobe Campaign, we are able to see what kind of content our fans are engaging in. We understand where they're visiting on our website. The goal is to create personalization. We want to make sure that fans have access to the channel where they are going to consume," LeValley explained.

Creating personalization for fans is the next step in the Kings' business strategy, which is heavily focused upon driving fan engagement. Turning to the relationship they built with Adobe, the Kings selected Adobe Campaign to help them drive fan engagement digitally. Using Adobe Campaign, the Kings have created subscriber welcome campaigns, pre- and post-game communications, season ticket renewals, seasonal promotions and lead nurturing. A holiday campaign that used a behavior-based workflow which automatically segmented individuals who exhibited certain behaviors for follow-up messages generated $70,000 in revenue for the Kings. What is notable about the campaign's follow-up emails, is that the second email doubled the revenue of the first and the third email generated the highest revenue per send.

In its attempt to customize experiences for fans, the Kings learned that many of its fans consume information about the team through mobile devices. This led the team to focus upon improving its mobile app and including content on the app that meets individual users' preferences. "We have gained an understanding of the types of content people are consuming through our email communications. We have also learned that fans are going to consume our content wherever they are. Integrating all of the content we produce into the mobile app has been a major focus. More people are using the app to browse content. In terms of total page use, 33-percent of our page views come from the app," LeValley explained.

For the Kings, the returns the team saw on its holiday pack email campaign and the traffic driven through its mobile app are critical to the team's new goals. "We know we have to grow our market share in Los Angeles. We have to do that the right way. We have to make sure it's not just about buying tickets. We have sold out 119 straight games; we can't get people into the games as much as we used to. We need to grow the brand and our television ratings. Our focus going forward is getting fans engaged who are taking interest in the Cup run and keeping them interested," LeValley said.